Cash in on red sanders

The Economic Survey II has a number of important suggestions on exports, which the commerce ministry should consider in the interest of pushing up India’s exports to achieve the target of USD 900 billion by 2020. One of the suggestions — “demandbased export basket diversification” — warrants serious thought given the changing scenarios like protectionism by the US and others and rupee appreciation.

The demand for Indian products is not showing any significant signal of improvement. Therefore, it is wise to look into the suggestion. In the context of the Economic Survey II readings, the export of red sanders ( Pterocarpus santalinus) can play a vital role to push up export figures. Locally, there is hardly any demand for this wood species, but it fetches mindboggling prices overseas. India has billions of hectares of this species, widespread in Andhra Pradesh. The Andhra Pradesh State Forest Development Corporation and a couple of other government agencies alone are allowed to export on a quota-scale basis on the recommendation of CITES which terms this species as endangered. But this species is not endangered; like any other tree it also re-grows when cut above the butt, a usually permitted logging practice. The government should turn a deaf ear to CITES and permit the export of this species freely by prescribing minimum export price so that price is not affected by free exports.